Page:Man's Country (1923).pdf/300

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She never had that kind of seasoning. A pout, a tear, or a plea has all her life got her everything she wanted. Isn't that so?"

"It is!"

"And, with it all, one of the dearest, one of the sweetest and most companionable little women in the world."

"Every bit of that and more," declared George. "And whatever is the—"

"Then we must not demand the impossible of this little woman, must we?" the doctor cut in skilfully.

"God knows I never have demanded it!" exclaimed George, conscious of a virtue.

"Then don't demand it now, after what I am to tell you, but first sit humbly at the feet of this distracted wife of yours and learn a lesson in devotion to ideals and to duty that will melt your heart. If it does not also provoke you to reverence and awe, I shall be much surprised."

"Why, what do you mean, Doctor?" inquired George, further disconcerted by such a manner.

"I mean to prepare you for the discovery that you have never properly appreciated your wife."

"Appreciated her? Why, Doctor, I—"

"Listen!" commanded the doctor, and he was now in his tone of most professional exposition: "These wander-lust dreams have one thing common to them all. You, her husband, are in them every one, and they take you away always to